Saint Mary’s Church, Croom, from a thatched roof to a Gothic Revival church

Saint Mary’s Church, Croom, was first built in 1814-1821 and redesigned by RH Byrne in 1929-1932 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Patrick Comerford

After visiting the Church of Ireland parish church in Croom, Co Limerick, beside Croom House, two of us crossed the street to visit the Roman Catholic parish church, was first built at the beginning of the 19th century on a site that was once part of the grounds of Croom Castle.

The Church of Saint Mary of the Assumption was probably built by Father Laurence Hartnett in 1814-1821, although some accounts say the church was first built in 1808. The confusion is compounded by the fact that there were two parish priests in Croom named Laurence Hartnett, an uncle and nephew.

Before 1641, the area around Croom was known as Ballingaddy parish, comprising the townlands of Croom and Toureen. Before Croom became a parish centre in 1711, the parish church was at Anhid. Only one wall remains of Anhid church, however, in the centre of Anhid graveyard. The old water font was removed from Anhid church in 1969.

Inside Saint Mary’s Church, Croom, facing east (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Croker family of Croom Castle donated the site for Saint Mary’s Church. The church was originally rectangular in shape, with a thatched roof and flagged floor. Two wings were later added, giving the church its present T-shape.

According to Samuel Lewis in 1837, the parish of Croom was the head of the Roman Catholic district comprising the parishes of Croom, Anhid, Dunaman, Carrigran and Dysart.

The church was lengthened in the 1850s, and a new slated roof was added. The sacristy was built in 1898. At this time, the Lyons family of Croom House had their own gallery in the church.

Inside Saint Mary’s Church, facing west (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The church is a good example of the Gothic Revival style and a striking feature in the landscape. It was rebuilt in 1929-1932, with the addition of the baptistry in 1929 and chancel in 1932. The walls were raised 10 ft all round and buttressed outside. A new roof was laid, and the flagstone floor was overlaid with pitch pine boards. This work was designed by the Dublin architect Ralph Henry Byrne (1877-1946), and the church was solemnly reopened on Sunday 4 April 1932 by Bishop David Keane of Limerick.

Ralph Henry Byrne was born in Largo House, 166 Lower Rathmines Road, Dublin, a son of the architect William Henry Byrne (1844-1917), a former pupil of JJ McCarthy. Ralph Byrne was articled to his father in 1896 for five years before joining him as a partner in 1902. After his father’s death in 1917, Byrne continued the business under the name of William H Byrne & Son.

Byrne’s principal works are churches, convents, schools and presbyteries, along with a number of banks, and he restored the Church of Our Lady of Refuge in Rathmines after a disastrous fire in 1920.

The altar and sanctuary area in Saint Mary’s Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The coherence of Byrne’s decorative theme in the church in Croom is seen in his use of pointed arch windows and a bellcote, while the interesting canted end bays display an innovative interpretation of the Gothic Revival style. The interior is especially rich in decoration, with well-made quadripartite rib vaults and decorative marble fittings.

The church has a three-bay nave, with canted gable-fronted end-bays at the nave, single-bay transepts and a lower sacristy with an addition at the south side.

The other features include pointed arch windows, hood-mouldings, limestone sills, stained-glass windows, including a Y-tracery stained-glass window, double-leaf timber panelled doors with flanking limestone fonts, quadripartite rib vaults with rosettes and foliate corbels, timber galleries with a recessed pointed arch blind arcade.

The altar canopy with fluted Corinthian-style columns and a marble reredosby Ludwig Oppenheimer (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

There is a pedimented altar canopy with fluted Corinthian-style columns and a marble reredos, and there are marble altar railings to altar. The mosaics behind the High Altar were designed by Ludwig Oppenheimer ca 1915.

The pitched slate roof has a pointed arch open-work bellcote at the gable-front, with a render cross finial, and a render bracketed eaves course.

Following the liturgical reforms introduced by Vatican II, the altar, sanctuary and floors were renovated in 1969. More recently, the stonework on the outside of the church was exposed, and the church was painted. The exposed stonework gives an indication of the original height of the thatch before the new roof was laid.

The Archangel Michael depicted in a window in the former Lyons family gallery (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

A plaque inside the side door on the right is dedicated to Henry Lyons of Croom House, who died in 1885 aged 57. Inside the side door on the left is a plaque to Lawrence Hartnett, Parish Priest, who is buried in the church.

Stained-glass windows donated by parishioners include windows depicting Saint Anthony, Saint Bridget, Saint Patrick, Saint Theresa and the Holy Family.

Another plaque on the stairs to the right gallery recalls the Lyons family, and the stained-glass window depicting the Archangel Michael in the gallery is dedicated to the Lyons family. The window in the facing gallery depicts the Archangel Gabriel.

Two parish priests are buried within the church: Father Lawrence Hartnett, Parish Priest of Croom and Ballybanogue, who died on 27 August 1861, aged 73; and his successor, Father John Quinlan, Parish Priest for 31 years, who died on 19 May 1892, aged 72. Other priests of the parish are buried in the surrounding churchyard.

The Croker family of Croom Castle donated the church site (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020) (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Croom Castle, Crom Abu, and the debts that brought down the Croker family

Croom Castle, Co Limerick … built by the FitzGeralds on the site of an earlier O’Donovan fortification (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Patrick Comerford

During our visit to Croom, Co Limerick, earlier this week, two of us walked around the walls and ramparts of Croom Castle, standing above the bend on the River Maigue that gives Croom its name.

The castle was rebuilt by the FitzGeralds of Kildare on the site of an earlier O’Donovan fortress, and the history of Croom Castle has been inter-twined over the centuries with the history of Croom.

Croom Castle was once one of the principal residences of the Kildare branch of the FitzGerald dynasty. Their ancient rallying cry, ‘Crom a Boo,’ became the motto of the Earls of Kildare and the Dukes of Leinster.

At the bend on the River Maigue, below the walls of Croom Castle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Until the arrival of the Anglo-Normans, the territory around Croom was the domain of the ancient Uí Cairpre Áebda (Cairbre Eva), of whom the O’Donovans were the principal family. The Ui Chairpre were a member of the larger regional kingdom of the Uí Fidgenti, once squeezed between the rival Kingdom of Desmond to the south and Kingdom of Thomond to the north.

Uaithne mac Cathail), ancestor of the O’Donovans, is said to have lived in the Cromadgh or Croom area ca 960. The O’Donovans were associated with the Croom area in the 1130s, when they are mentioned in the Caithréim Chellacháin Chaisil.

Ruaidhri, son of Toirdhealbhach Ua Conchobhair, made a great predatory attack from Thomond in 1151, when he burned Cromadh and carried away many cows.

Some O’Donovans remained in the Croom area after the arrival of the Anglo-Normans and, according to Samuel Lewis in 1837, Dermot O’Donovan built the first-known castle at Croom sometime during the reign of King John or shortly before.

Croom Castle was besieged on at least three occasions during the reign of Elizabeth I (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

According to Samuel Lewis, this early castle was built to secure the country that the O’Donovans had recently taken from the MacEnirys, their Ui Fidgheinte kinsmen.

It is believed that the tower castle was built in the early 13th century, following earlier attacks on the town.

During the reign of Elizabeth I, the FitzGeralds were besieged in Croom Castle on at least three occasions. The last of these sieges was in 1600, when Carew, the Lord President of Munster, led a force of 1,500 men in an attack on the castle. The castle garrison was commanded by Pierce Lacey,who made his escape at night under cover of darkness, and the castle surrendered the following morning.

The Countess of Kildare was living at Croom Castle in the winter of 1601 when the northern chief, Red Hugh O’Donnell, arrived in Croom with his men after their overnight march across the frozen Slieve Felim to link up with the Spaniards who had landed at Kinsale.

Croom Castle and manor were restored to the FitzGerald family by James I, but they forfeited Croom once again during the wars of 1641.

Charles II gave Croom Castle to his illegitimate son, the Duke of Ricmond (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

After the restoration, King Charles II granted Croom Castle in 1678 to his six-year-old illegitimate son, Charles Lennox (1672-1723), Duke of Richmond, who later lived in the castle for several years.

The castle was fortified against the Williamite force in 1691 by Jacobites who later took refuge in Limerick.

The Duke of Richmond sold Croom Caste to his agent, John Croker, in 1721. Later, a residence was built at Croom Castle with some of the stone and rubble from the old castle.

Autumn apples … an apple tree beneath the walls of Croom Castle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

This attached two-storey house was built ca 1730, within the bawn of the mediaeval castle. It has rubble stone walls, square-headed windows with stone sills, and stone chimneystacks. The crenellations on the walls may date from the 19th century.

For over a century, the Croker family of Croom Castle provided the rectors and vicars in the parishes of Adare and Croom from the mid-18th until the second half of the 19th century: the Revd Richard Croker (1756-1823) was Rector and Vicar of Croom and Adare (1784-1823), the Revd Edward Croker (1787-1863) was Vicar of Croom (1823-1863) and Vicar of Adare (1824-1828), and the Revd Thomas Croker (1800-1872) was Vicar of Adare (1828-1872).

John Croker was the father of Captain Edward Croker married Lady Georgina Ellen Monck of Charleville House, Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, one of the 11 daughters of Henry Stanley Monck (1785-1848), Earl of Rathdown, in 1841. His father was disappointed that Edward was not marrying an heiress who might shore up the family fortunes; her father questioned Edward’s motives in marrying his daughter and was concerned about his mounting debts.

The Dickson coat-of-arms on the family vault in the Church of Ireland churchyard in Croom (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Edward Croker’s debts mounted up between 1849 and 1859, reaching close to £70,000, while the Croom Castle estate was valued at £2,158. By then the Dickson family were living at Croom Castle as agents and tenants of the Croker family. But the sale of Croom Castle was complicated and led to a lengthy legal dispute.

Samuel Dickson of Limerick was the father of the Revd Richard Dickson (1776-1867), Rector of Kilkeedy (1799-1867); Stephen Dickson, a barrister, who died in 1839 and Major General William Dickson.

General Dickson married Harriet Dallas and they were the parents of two sons, Samuel Auchmuty Dickson (1817-1870), who lived at Croom Castle, Co Limerick and Major General William Thomas Dickson, 16th Lancers, and two daughters, Mary Eleanor who was disinherited when she became a Roman Catholic nun, and Fanny Charlotte, who married Mortimer Sackville-West (1820-1888), 1st Baron Sackville, in 1847. Her nephew was the father of the English novelist, poet, journalist, letter writer and diarist Vita Sackville-West (1892-1962).

Samuel Auchmuty Dickson of Croom Castle was born in Madras, India, in 1817. After failed attempts to be elected in Co Limerick (1850), Reading (1852) and Kingston upon Hull (1854), he was elected Conservative MP for Limerick (1859-1865). He died in 1870;at the time, his brother, General William Dickson, owned 8,559 acres in Co Limerick and 513 acres in Co Tipperary.

Meanwhile, Croom Castle and its demesne were advertised for sale in February 1864. The Croker estate at Croom, including 450-500 acres, was sold for £8,000 in 1872. The Croker Estates Act 1888 was designed to settle many outstanding issues dating back to Edward Croker’s marriage settlement in 1841.

The gates of Croom House in Croom (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Croom Castle was bought by the Lyons family, descended from Denis Lyons (1749-1809) who in 1779 married Christian daughter of Thomas Casey, MP. The Lyons family were the owners of the mills in Croom and also lived at Croom House.

Their successors, Henry Lyons of Croom House and John Edward Lyons owned 1,665 and 1,329 acres in Co Limerick in the 1870s, while William Henry Lyons of Cork and later of Croom Castle, owned 388 acres in Co Cork and 1,313 acres in Co Limerick.

Henry Lyons (1828-1885) of Croom House was High Sheriff of Co Limerick in 1860 and in 1873 married Olivia Montagu (1850-1928). She was a daughter of Lord Robert Montagu (1825-1902) and a granddaughter of George Montagu (1799-1855), 6th Duke of Manchester. Lord Robert Montagu was Conservative MP for Huntingdonshire (1859-1874) and for Westmeath (1874-1880).

The descendants of Henry Lyons were still living in Croom in the mid-20th century.

Today, Croom Castle is little more than a large, undistinguished ruin. Two walls of the tower remain standing, although both have collapsed to about half their original height, with the other two walls of the tower collapsed into a very large pile of rocks and bricks.

The house at Croom Caste is of architectural importance as it remains relatively intact. It retains its archaeological significance as it was built within the bawn of the mediaeval castle. It was bought by Michael Corry in 1936, and more recently offered self-catering accommodation.

The house at Croom Caste is of architectural importance and remains relatively intact (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)